Apparatus for handling piles of paper



Oct. 7 1924.

J. WHITE ET AL APPARATUS FOR HANDLING FILES OF PAPER Original Filed Anril 21 1:120 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 m N W W Oct. 7 1924. I 1,510,530 J. WHITE ET AL 1 APPARATUS FOR HANDLING FILES OF PAPER Original Filed April 21. 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. WHITE ET AL APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PILES OF PAPER Original Filed April 21. 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet'ii ITTYJ Patented Oct. 7, 1924.

, UNITED JOSEPH WHITE, OF MIDDLESEX, AND WILLIAM EOKHARD, OF PLAINFIELD, NEW JER- SEY; MINNIE E, WHITE ADMINISTRATRIX OF SAID JOSEPH WHITE, DECEASED, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNIVIENTS, TO R.

.A- CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

HOE AND C0,, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PIIiES OF PAPER.

Application filed April 21, 1920, Serial No. 375,430. Renewed July 5, 1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J OSEPI-I WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middlesezgin the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, and WILLIAM EGKHARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey,'have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Handling Piles of Paper, of which the following is a specification. 7

Our present'inventi'on relates to apparatus for handling piles of paper in connection with a paper-handling machine, such as printing presses, folders and the like.

As is well understood in the art, in the large majority of instances, the piles of sheets are very large and heavy, and the 7 sheets themselves are oblong, with the length greatly in excess of the width, In most paper-handling machines, the sheets are fed into the machine with the length of the sheet extending across the machine, andsuch machines are usually constructed so that when a pile of paper is moved intoor out of the position which the pile occupies in order to be operated on by the instrumentalities of the; machine, such motion must be made in the" direction of the width of the sheet.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide an apparatus by which these heavy, rectangular piles ofpaper may be readily moved about on the floor of the room,-and finally into position adjacent the machine by moving the pile in the direction of the length of the sheet, whereby a narrower space is required ion the passage of the pile than is required when the pile is moved in the direction of the width of the sheet, and by which the pile may be readily moved into or out of its operating position in themachine by moving it in the direction of the width of the sheet.- I

With this and other objects in view, our invention consists in the apparatus hereinafter described and more specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammatic, side elevation of our novel apparatus applied to a printing press o fwell-known type, which We have chosen ure 1; Fig. 3 is a partial, end elevation of the arrangement shown in Figure 1 looking inthe direction of the arrow 3 in that fig-' ure; Fig. a is a partial, 'enjd elevation of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Figures 1 and 2; Fig.5 is apartial, end elevation of the arrangement'shown in Figure 1 looking in thedirection of the arrow 5 in that figure. f

Corresponding reference characters in the several views represent corresponding parts. For purposes of illustration we have shown a printing press 10 of a well-known type, in which the sheets are fed one at a time from the top of a pile'locatedat the right of the machine, and after passing through the machine'the sheets are delivered one at a time on the top ofa'pile located at the left of Figure 1.

Referring first to the machine, it will be understood that, in mostc'onstructions, parts of the machine, such as feeder end of the the side frames and mechanism carried prising the pile-liiting devices shown best in Figure 2, these devices. being omitted from Figure 1 for greater clearness. *In other cases, adJacent walls and machines Ordinarily, the piles otpaper are handled on the floorof the press room by means of a truck, a common form Of which is shown in side elevation in Figure 5 The pile of paper P "is arranged on fat-platform 11 provided with suitable underbraces, and the, truck 12, having wheels 13',"l i,' will be rolled undenthis platfo'rm as it re'stson its end supports 15, 16. Then, by suitable manipulation'ofith'e handle 17, the'ti platform 18 may be raised so that the platform 11 and the pile P will be carried on the truck 12. By our arrangement the truck 12 is inserted under the platform so that the pile can be readily moved in the direction of will also prevent'the desired pile movement;

sage of the truck, platform and pile through a narrower space than would be possible if the motion were with the greatest dimension of the sheet at the front and rear.

The pile P is thus carried from any portion of the floor of-the room into the position shown in dotted lines at the right of Figure 1, adjacent and in front of the feeding position for the pile in the machine. Preferably, we provide a pair of tracks 19, 20 extending from inside of the machine and beneath the feeding position of the pile to a position in front of the machine, and the truck 12 is drawn across these tracks into the position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1. Arranged to roll on each of these tracks, in our preferred form, we provide a pair of trucks 21 and 22 arranged, in the form shown, With a pair of wheels and a body member, there being, therefore, four of these trucks in all. With the platform 11 held'in a relatively! high'position by the truck platform 18, the supplemental trucks 21, 22 are rolled under the platform supports 15, 16, and the handle 17 is then manipulated to cause the truck platform 18 to drop, thus causing the platform 11 to rest on the supplemental trucks 21, 22. The truck 12 is then withdrawn and the plat form 11 and the pile P is now supported so that it may be readily rolled widthwise of the sheet into the full line position shown at the right of Figure 1, in which position sheets may be fed from the top of the pile into the press.

As is old in the art, We preferably provide pile-elevating mechanism by which the pile may be lifted so that the top thereof will be maintained at substantially a constant height. As one form of such mechanism, we provide a pair of supporting bars 23, one of which is on either side of the machine, these supporting bars, in the form illustrated, being adapted to be lifted by cables 24, 24 passing around drums 25, 25 turned by a shaft 26 by any suitable and usual mechanism.

Extending across the supporting bars 23 and adjacent the opposite ends of the pile, are cross beams 27, 28, these beams lying loosely on the supporting members 23.

At either end of the cross beams 27, 28 is a platform-supporting rod 29, 30 adapted to engage beneath the upper walls of openings 31, 32 formed in the platform supports 15, 16. These rods are arranged to rotate in the cross beams 27, 28 so that in the event that the pile P is not in proper position crosswise of the machine when rolled into operating position on the tracks 19, 20, the platform 11 may be moved to the right or to the left of Figure 4 without undue exertion. I

After the pile P is in proper position, the members 23 are lifted so that the pile is 28, in which they rest, and the beams 27,

28 will be removed so that the passageway into the machine is again cleared to permit the next pile to be moved into position, as was the one just described.

Tn the form shown, the rods 29, 30 are provided with a groove 33 which serves to prevent endwise displacement of the rods 29, 30 until they have been lifted slightly to permit them to be moved out of the holes in the beam 28.

The operation at the delivery end of the machine is exactly the same as that just described but, of course, in the opposite direction. In the form illustrated, the platform is supported on memberslO, 41 controlled by the usual screw rods 4:2, 13 which are turned from time to time to permit the platform 11 to be gradually lowered as the sheets are dropped one at a time on the pile. vVhen a pile of the desired height has been formed, the members 40, 41 are lowered so as to cause the platform supports 15, 16 to rest on supplemental trucks a l, 45, which are preferably identically the same as the trucks 21, 22, andwhich preferably roll on tracks 47, 48 extending from beneath the delivery position of the sheets to the exterior of the machine. The pile is then rolled widthwise to the dotted line position shown at the left of Figure 1, and a truck, such as 12, is moved under the pile between the trucks 45, 46 and the platform transferred to the truck 12 to be moved away to any desired position by a motion lengthwise of the pile.

While we have described our invention as applied to a printing press, it will be understood that it may be also used in connection with any paper-handling machine in which piles of paper are moved into and out of operating position. It will be also understood that, while, preferably, we pro vide a plurality of independent, separate, supplemental trucks on which the pile may be rolled into and out of operative position, any other form of truck may be used, so long as it accomplishes the primary purpose of our invention which is to enable a pile to be moved readily into and out of operating position widthwise of the sheet. Furthermore, while we have illustrated a convenient form of truck whereby the pile may be moved lengthwise of the sheets into and out of position adjacent the operative position for the pile, any other form may be used.

It will also be understood that by trucks, as used in the description and the appended claims, we do not mean to be restricted to the specific construction indicated, but include any form of rolling support which will accomplish the purposes of our invention. 1

We claim I 1. A platform adapted to support a pile of sheets, a pair of roller rods extending under opposite ends of said platform, a pair of cross beams arranged to engage and support the ends of said rods, a pair of supporting members arranged to engage and support said cross beams, elevating means to raise and lower said supporting members and a truck to receive and support said platform when it is lowered, said rods, cross beams and supporting members being detachab-ly connected so as to be removable when the platform is resting on said truck, whereby the platform may be moved with said truck into and out of cooperative re- 7 lation with said elevating means.

2. In a sheet handling machine, a rectangular pile platform to support a pile of sheets, a pair of tracks extending beneath the pile platform when it is in the machine to the exterior of the machine, a pair of 

